AIBU to pop on here for some cheeky help

[Janel85]

I know this isn’t a really juicy AIBU post that everyone comes on here for but I want to go to bed and I am perplexed by a woodburner.

I don’t like the thought of the woodburner (it’s not mine, we are in a holiday lodge) going all night, I don’t have one at home, this may be stupid but hey ho. There’s a lever on the front of it with a plus sign at one end and a minus sign at the other, I’ve googled it and I understand it’s something to do with airflow, but I can’t get a simple answer on which one will make the fire go out quicker and neither appear to make any difference to the flame when I move it. Help Mumsnet ...

The more airflow, the quicker it will go out
Debs

Thanks for replying, so I move it towards the plus sign?

Yeah, I guess so

I've never found the adjustable thing to make the slightest bit of difference to how quickly the fire goes out. As long as there are carbon monoxide alarms and nothing on or directly next to the stove you'll be fine (years of living on a narrow boat with a blissful raging solid fuel burner keeping us toasty all night).

No it's the opposite, switch the air off to kill the fire, increase the air to increase the burning.

You can just leave it smouldering all night, it's fine, just leave it in the middle. We do ours. But if you want it to go out, shut the air off.

That sounds lovely GrannyGrissle, it’s ironic that when we were watching a film earlier and put it on the flame was pitiful and we were freezing, now that I want to go to bed my tinkering trying to get it to go down has had he opposite effect and I seeem to have helped it on

It won't shut the air off completely though, it just reduces the flow. Open it up (+) and it will burn out faster and go out.

Granny that's weird, I have two, and both when I cut the air off, thr fires damp down fast. If I increase thr air it burns hotter and faster, so it makes a substantial difference.

We had a dishwasher catch fire at our house recently so I’m not sure I can sleep with it on

Blimey. Either go full throttle to get it to finish burning more quickly - although how quickly depends how much wood is on their, how dense etc - or turn it right down low and it will just smoulder all night. To be honest I wouldn’t leave ours burning at night unsupervised. If it was me I’d turn it right up and let it burn out.

Putting it to plus seems to make bigger flames, putting it to minus makes lower flames but a worrying black dust on the glass

Thanks for all the tips FrostiesMum it’s one of those paper wrapped home fire logs...

Those logs go for about ninety mins all in. Do you not have any other fuel in there? Normally you light them and twenty mins later add the fuel ie wood.

No there is just one of those things in there, it’s raging mows so you reckon about ninety minutes and it will have burned itself out? See pic

Worrying black dust is just soot, annoying but nothing to worry about. Simply due to temp not being high enough.

There is no problem leaving it for the night (our whole house is heated by wood burner which during winter is fed all through the day, stocked up for night, so there are still embers left in the morning).

If you move it to plus, it will burn out faster, with larger flames (which you usually use when starting it up), minus and it will take longer with smaller flames (for maintaining heat and not wasting wood). I would put it on minus and leave it be ☺️

The log has just gone out, will not be doing this so late tomorrow as cosy as it was!